Slide suspension



May 8, 1962 J. K. TOMLINSON SLIDE SUSPENSION Filed May 13, 1959 I0VENTOR Jul-m K. TOMLINSON 3,il33,638 SLIDE SUSPENSION John K. Tomlinson,1210 S. Morgan St, Chicago, Ill. Filed May 13, 1959, Ser. No. 812,899Claims. (Cl. 312-338) This invention relates in general to a slide formounting a drawer, tray or the like on companion supporting member,which slide is constructed of internested extensible members slidablerelative to each other.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a slide of the typestated in which the stops for limiting the amount of outward movement ofthe extension members are releasable to facilitate removal of themembers.

It is a further and more specific object of the present invention toprovide a slide of the type stated in which one of the stops is formedon a resilient strip so shaped and arranged that it may be manuallyactuated with a minimum of physical effort to release the stop, andthereby permit removal of the drawer or tray.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a slide of thetype stated wherein one of the members includes a plurality ofslide-forming flanges struck outwardly therefrom which results insubstantial saving in materials cost in the fabrication thereof.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention resides in thenovel feature of form, construction, arrangement and combination ofparts presently described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a cabinet having a drawersupported thereon by a slide constructed in accordance with andembodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of the slide;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the slide channel formingpart of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 55 of FIG. 1;and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 2.

Referring now in more detail and by reference characters to the drawingwhich illustrates a practical embodiment of the present invention, 1designates a cabinet having a side wall 2 and a forwardlyopening drawercavity 3 for receiving a suitable drawer 4. Bolted or otherwise rigidlysecured to the inside face of the side wall 2 is a sheet metal outerrail 5 havinga web 6 the upper and lower margins of which are providedwith inwardly turned flanges 7, 8 which, together with the web 6, formupper and lower trackways 9, 10. Intermediate its front and rearvertical margins, the web 6 struck outwardly in the provision of a stopabutment 11, the edge 13 of which is presented away from the opening ofthe drawer cavity 3.

Slidably mounted on the outer rail 5 is a sheet metal slide channel 14comprising a vertical web 16 terminating at its upper and lowerhorizontal edges in spaced parallel legs 17, 18. The legs 17, 18terminate at their free ends in outwardly diverging flanges 19, 20 whichare slidable in the trackways 9, 10. Struck outwardly from the legs 17,18 are two groups of spaced aligned flanges 21, 22 having outwardlydiverging ends 23, 24. The ends 23, 24 may, however, projectsubstantially at right angles to the flanges 21, 22. Bolted, riveted orotherwise rigidly secured to the drawer 4 is an inner horizontal rail25, which is similar to the outer rail 5, previously described, andcomprises a web 26 terminating at its upper and lower longitudinal edgesin inwardly turned flanges 27, 28 to form trackways 29, 30 whichslidably receive the diverging ends 23, 24 of the flanges 21, 22. Theweb 26 is, furthermore, provided intermediate its ends with a stopspasms Fatented May 8, 2 362 abutment 31 struck outwardly from planethereof and having an edge 32 presented oppositely to the edge 13.integrally formed on the web 16 in forwardly spaced relation to the rearedge thereof is a socket 33 for receiving a flat spring steel strip 34.At its rear end the strip 34 is bent in the provision of a tab or detent35 which projects loosely through a hole 36 formed in the web 16adjacent its rear edge, and the detent 35 is disposed substantially atright angles to the web 16 and is adapted to strike the edge 13. Betweenthe detent 35 and socket 33 the strip 34 is bent in the provision of anintermediate portion 37 which is spaced from the web 16. Also formed inthe web 16 forwardly of the socket 33 is another socket 38 for receivingan elongated strip of spring steel 39 integrally including a bladeportion 40 which is spaced outwardly from the web 26. At its forward endthe blade portion 4t) terminates in a segment 41 comprising a pair ofarms 42, 43 which intersect at an apex 44 and form an obtuse angle. Thearm 43 normally lies facewise against the web 26 and at its front end isbent substantially at right angles in the provision of a stop-formingdetent 45, the latter projecting loosely through a hole 46 formed in theweb 26 adjacent the front end thereof.

In use, the outer rail 5 is secured to the side wall 2 and, similarly,the inner rail 25 is mounted on the drawer 4. The slide channel 14 isthen mounted on the outer rail 5 allowing the flanges 19, 20 to slidealong the trackways 9, 10. As the detent 35 contacts the stop abutment11, the resiliency of the strip 34 will allow the detent 35 to ride overthe stop abutment 11 so that when the slide channel 14 is thereaftershifted outwardly, the detent 35 will strike the edge 13. Thereafter,the drawer 4 with the inner rail 25 thereon is mounted on the slidechannel 14' so that the trackways 29, 30 receive the diverging ends 23,24. The detent 45 will ride over the stop abutment 31 due to theresiliency of the strip 38 so that upon movement of the drawer 4 and theinner rail 25 outwardly of the drawer cavity 3, the stop abutment 31will strike the detent 45. It will of course be apparent that two slidesof the foregoing type will be used with each drawer 4 and associatedcabinet 1, and each of the slides will be equidistant from the bottom ofthe drawer.

If it is desired to remove the drawer 4, a force can be applied to theblade portion 4% in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 4. Thisforce will deflect the blade portion '40 and move the latter, togetherwith the arms 42, 43 and detent 45 to the position shown in dotted linesin FIG. 4. In this connection it should be noted that s'mce the strip 38is fabricated of spring steel the force will displace the apex 44slightly toward the hole 46 while at the same time cause the entiresegment 41 to rock about a fulcrum located at the line of contactbetween the apex 44 and web 26. Consequently, the detent 45 will beretracted from the edge 32 and allow the inner rail 25 to be pulledoutwardly off of the slide channel 14. Since the drawer 4 will be in theopen position, as shown in FIG. 1, prior to applying the force to theblade portion 40, this force can be readily applied by finger pressure.Furthermore, since the blade portion 40 is relatively long as comparedwith the segment 41, and the fingers will ordinarily apply pressure tothe blade portion 40 somewhat centrally thereof, the moment arm betweenthe resultant force on the blade portion 40 and the fulcrum is large ascompared to the moment arm between the fulcrum and detent 45. As aresult, the detent 45 will be suificiently rigid to prevent aosaess J:bight 1.6 and intermediate portion 37 to flex the latter and therebypull the detent 35 away from the abutment ll and allow the slide channel14 to be shifted forwardly off of the outer rail 5.

In compliance with the requirements of the patent statutes I have hereshown and. described a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Itis, however, to be understood that the invention is not limited to theprecise construction here shown, the same being merely illustrative ofthe principles of the invention.

What is considered new and sought to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A slide comprising a slide channel having a Web provided on itsopposite ends with a pair of spaced legs, a flange formed on the outerend of each leg, said flanges projecting outwardly from the slidechannel in substantially opposite directions, and a plurality of spacedaligned flanges struck outwardly from each of said legs and reverselybent to project outwardly from the junction of the web and each leg, thelast mentioned flanges having ends, and the ends of the flanges that arestruck from one leg projecting away from the ends of the flanges thatare struck from the other leg.

2. A slide comprising a slide channel having a web provided on itsopposite ends with a pair of spaced legs, a flange formed on the outerend of each leg, said flanges projecting outwardly from the slidechannel in substantially opposite directions, a first group of spacedaligned flanges struck outwardly from one leg and reversely bent toproject outwardly from the junction of the web and that leg, and asecond group of spaced aligned flanges struck outwardly from the otherleg and reversely bent to project outwardly from the junction of the weband said other leg, the flanges in each group having ends and the endsin one group extending in a direction substantially opposite to that ofthe ends in the other group.

3. A slide comprising a slide channel having a web provided on itsopposite ends with a pair of spaced legs, a flange formed on the outerend of each leg, said flanges projecting outwardly from the slidechannel in substantially opposite directions, and a plurality of spacedaligned flanges struck outwardly from said legs and having ends whichare bent to project away from the web at an angle thereto.

4. A slide comprising a slide channel having a web provided on itsopposite ends with a pair of spaced legs, a flange formed on the outerend of each leg, said flanges projecting outwardly from the slidechannel in substantially opposite directions, a plurality of spacedaligned flanges struck outwardly from said legs and having ends whichare bent to project away from the web at an angle thereto, and a memberslidably mounted on said ends.

5. A slide comprising an outer rail adapted for support within a drawercavity and having a web, said web having inwardly turned marginalflanges which form, with said web, opposed trackways, an inner railparallel to said outer rail and also having a Web and inwardly turnedflanges which form with said last-mentioned web opposed trackwaysthereon, said inner rail being adapted for securement to a drawer or thelike, said inner and outer rail webs each having a stop abutment lyingbetween the trackways thereof, a slide channel having a web whichoverlies said stop abutment, said slide channel web having a pair ofspaced legs on opposite sides thereof and a flange formed on the outerend of each leg, a group of spaced aligned flanges struck outwardly fromthe junc tion of the web and each leg and each of said lastentionedflanges having ends, the ends of the flanges in one group extending in adirection substantially opposite to the ends of the flanges in the othergroup, said ends and the flanges on the outer ends of the legs beingslidable in the trackways on said inner and outer rails such that theinner rail is slidable along the slide channel and the slide channel isslidable along the outer rail, an elongated resilient strip secured toeach side of the web of the slide channel and having a stop projectingthrough the slide channel Web and into the path of the stop abutments,said strips each having a portion thereof spaced from the slide channelWeb and also each including a segment, each said segment having a pairof intersecting arms with the region of intersection of said arms beingadapted to bear against the slide channel web at a fulcrum thereon, eachfulcrum being between the stop and said portion of the strip, wherebythe application of a force to either of said portions in a directiontoward the slide channel web will cause the segment connected thereto torock about the fulcrum associated therewith and retract the stop fromthe path of the abutment against which it is otherwise adapted tostrike.

References-Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS790,009 Streeter May 16, 1905 975,368 Makowski Nov. 8, 1910 1,859,228Berry May 17, 1932 2,265,927 Pratt Dec. 9, 1941 2,277,702 Kennedy Mar.31, 1942 2,295,697 Sulentic Sept. 15, 1942 2,765,208 Bush Oct. 2, 1956

